Artak Kalantarian

Software Professional

[Mel Gibson @MelGibsonstory]

Japan and Germany got totally destroyed in WW2.

But their kids didn’t become terrorists.

Stop making excuses for yours.

[Cerebral Wisdom @CerebralWisdom]

Why people hate Russia.

[Dr. Maalouf ‏ @realMaalouf]

The Copts don’t have their own country.
The Assyrians don’t have their own country.
The Yazidis don’t have their own country.
The Druze don’t have their own country.
The Maronites don’t have their own country.

These are all ancient peoples with centuries of documented history, all of whom have faced extreme persecution and genocide by Muslims. And yet not a single leftist activist supports the idea that they should have their own homelands.

But somehow “Palestinians”, who are just Arabs with no distinct culture or identity, are supposed to get their own state, even though there are already dozens of Arab and Muslim countries they can call home.

Can anyone explain why?!

[Denis Yurchak @denisyurchak]

Yerevan 🇦🇲 is the only place in the world where you can get a European lifestyle, Middle Eastern taxes, and South-East Asian prices

Over the past 2 years I’ve spent 2 months in Yerevan

I came as a tourist first and then couldn’t help but return here again and again

Yerevan has a lot of monies and the city is missing in a lot of respects

The public transport is nonexistent, the traffic is crazy, the number of bike roads is 0

It’s a terrible city if you are a 50+ yo who wants quiet European life

But it is perfect if you are young and building a biz

The city has a Christian European culture and virtually 0 crime - I accidentally left the car open with engine running yesterday for an hour in front of the restaurant. When I came back both the car and my backpack inside were intact - imagine the same in Paris or London!

Yerevan is full of amazing coffee shops where you can drink good coffee, work and meet other expats

Most locals speak English. If you speak Russian you will do very good, if you speak a bit of Armenian you will get discounts and gifts at most places

Yerevan is well connected with Europe - my flight from Slovakia cost just €30 with Wizzair, same for Vienna last year

And the main pro for me - Yerevan feels like an adult playground

The prices are so low that stuff feels basically free if you earn in a European/US tech hub. You get a MUCH better quality of services than anywhere in the US or Europe

The tax rate for individual properietors is 1% - set up a US LLC for stripe, and IP in Armenia in one day and you are set. Crypto dudes in Dubai pay x4 European prices for goods and services to get the same tax regime, you will pay less than half of them.

You won’t ever need a car - a 30 minute taxi ride costs under 4 bucks here, and the whole city center is very walkable.

Armenia is the only democracy in the Caucasus and if they play their cards right, I’m sure they are gonna reach at least the Polish level of income soon - I’m very bullish on it

So now is very good time to come and visit here while Armenia is still cheap and low tax!

[Larry Elder @larryelder]

“Islam has problems with dogs. With women. With music. With gays. With Jews. With Christians. With blood. With pork. With alcohol. With gambling. With interest.

“But if you have a problem with Islam, you're a racist, bigoted
Islamophobe.”
—@t_woelfer (translated from German)

[Ben Shapiro @benshapiro]

Number of Jews in Egypt: 10 (total population: 100 million)
Jordan: 0 (10M)
Saudi Arabia: 0 (34M)
Lebanon: 100 (7M)
Syria: 0 (17M)
Iraq: 4 (39M)
Iran: 8,300 (83M)
Number of Arabs in Israel: 1.9M (9M), with full civil rights.
But sure, Israel is the apartheid state.

[Artak Kalantarian @artakka]

Tesla self driving reacts to a potentially dangerous situation before I could have noticed anything.
Latest self driving is absolutely in the science fiction realm. Kudos to @elonmusk and everybody else who made this magic happen.

[Ron Rule @ronrule]

In 2001 George W Bush proposed a partial privatization plan for Social Security so you could put 10% of your SS contribution into the markets.

People rejected this.

We can now see that if it had passed, the 10% that went into the markets would have outperformed the 90% the government managed, the program would be solvent, and the average SS recipient would be receiving 2X what they currently receive.

The worst bet you’ll ever make is betting on government.

[Проф. Преображенский @prof_preobr]

Вчера Путин абсолютно неожиданно вышел из машины пообщаться с питерцами.
А питерцы совершенно случайно толпой ждали Путина как раз в этом незапланированном месте.
Продлилось общение Путина с "народом" 25 секунд.

[Sulkhan Metreveli @Sulkhan]

The West humiliated Russia in the 1990s. This war is the consequence.’

I’ve heard this in every language, from every podium. It is history rewritten backwards.

Recall what actually happened to defeated Russia: no occupation. No reparations. No tribunal. It kept its nuclear arsenal and its UN veto. Its debts were forgiven and refinanced. It was handed IMF billions and a seat at the G8 — a club of democracies admitting a wounded autocracy out of hope.

Now recall an actually humiliated nation: Germany, 1945. Occupied. Partitioned. Cities in ash, leaders hanged, guilt taught to its children by law.

Germany became the most peaceful democracy in Europe. Russia became this.

So spare me the humiliation theory. Russia was not humiliated after the Cold War. It was indulged — and it read every kindness as weakness, every gift as tribute.

The grievance was never mistreatment. The grievance was lost dominion.

Empires do not mourn their wounds. They mourn their slaves.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

That’s what he said

[Dr. Maalouf ‏ @realMaalouf]

TERRIFYING: Zohran Mamdani attended Friday prayers at a mosque where the imam literally called for the killing of infidels (non-Muslims).

This did not get enough attention.

[Robert Petrosyan @PetrosyanRob]

Расчёт Кремля был прост: «закроем импорт, армяне одумаются, и свергнут Пашиняна».

А на деле оказалось, что армянская рыба нашла путь в ЕС — на рынок, который по экономическому объёму примерно в 10 раз больше российского.

[Dr. Maalouf ‏ @realMaalouf]

Zohran Mamdani says America should look into Islam and follow the example of “Prophet Muhammad” on migration.

Fun fact: After conquering Mecca, Muhammad deported all the Christians and Jews and banned them from entering the city ever again.

To this day, non-Muslims are prohibited from entering Mecca because they are considered dirty and impure.

Does Mamdani want to turn New York into an all-Islamic state like his prophet did in Mecca?

[Mosab Hassan Yousef @MosabHasanYOSEF]

They murder their daughters for “honor,”

sacrifice their sons for propaganda,

then cry “Genocide.”

[Dr. Sheila Nazarian @sheilanazarian]

I want to ask the students screaming “Death to America”, do you have any idea what happens when American values die?

Because I do.

My family fled Iran, a country where freedom died. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

You think America is oppressive because you have never experienced real oppression.

You think silence is violence because you’ve never been silenced.

You think words are dangerous because you have never watched a government drag someone away for speaking them.

You think capitalism is evil because you have never stood in a bread line.

You think borders are immoral because you have never had to flee across one.

You think revolution is romantic because you have never had a revolution take everything from you.

I have.

And that’s why I refuse to be quiet.

[Neil Hauer @NeilPHauer]

Top EU officials visited Yerevan last week, just the latest in a steady parade of Western leaders traveling to Armenia. They announced new measures to support Armenian producers in the face of Russian import bans.

My latest: https://t.co/sZPr316wr8

[Handre @Handre]

In 1959, Cuba and Costa Rica were roughly equal in wealth. Both were sugar-and-coffee economies with tropical climates and Spanish colonial baggage. Then they chose different masters.

Cuba handed itself to Fidel Castro, who nationalized the sugar mills, the phone company, and eventually your neighbor's corner store. Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948 and left men mostly free to trade. Watch what happened.

Costa Rica's GDP per capita now sits around $17,000. Cuba's official figure is a fiction the regime refuses to let anyone audit, and Cubans earn state salaries near $30 a month while waiting in ration lines for bread the state promised in 1962. One country exports medical software and pineapples. The other exports rafts.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

…

[Artak Kalantarian @artakka]

@darkcjc @hyepatriarch Are you serious?